Goldbox Games

[ffan]

Which are the best? [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Lucern]

Hey ffan,

The best? That's impossible.

The one I remember most fondly (played it again a few months ago) is the oldest: Pool of Radiance.

I can also recommend Curse of the Azure Bonds, Champions of Krynn, Death Knights of Krynn, Gateway to the Savage Frontier, and a pleasant surprise: Buck Rogers: Countdown. That game was really interesting to me, seeing the goldbox style in a sci-fi game. I'm currently debating whether to take my party into Secret of the Silver Blades or to start up the Gateway games, which I liked but didn't get very far into before I was eaten by trolls. My only incentive for going through Silver Blades is to get to Pools of Darkness with my original PoR party (Swapping 2 fighters for a Ranger and a Paladin in Curse).

Of course, check out Dungeon Craft or the horde of Unlimited Adventure games for more.

[ 12-31-2006, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: Lucern ]

[ffan]

nice!

[ 01-01-2007, 03:23 PM: Message edited by: ffan ]

[Nightwing]

Silver blades and pools of darkness was worth playing several times. I liked pool of radiance a lot also. It was fun duel classing fighter and thief for the backstab multiplier which helped a lot in some fights. The last fight is very tough though in Pools of darkness and I hate drow thier magic resistance annoys me.

[Zaleukos]

It's a matter of taste. Do you prefer high- or low level games? Do you enjoy playing non-humans (the Forgotten Realms series have level caps for non-humans making them more or less useless).

Personally I like Pool of Radiance and the Krynn series best. PoR gives you an illusion of openendedness as it allows you to roam about and do quests in any order, but the interface is a bit less convenient (you have to choose spells to memorize again after casting, and some other things).

I had a hard time getting into the Silver Blades (I'm more into overland worlds than dungeon hacking), but once I got going it had me hooked.

The savage frontier games (particularly the first ones) are a bit silly in that it is very easy to miss out on parts of the linear story, which leads to the game making a bit less sense than it should...

Never played very far into Buck Rogers as I didnt know which skills to pick...

[CerebroDragon]

My first was Curse of the Azure Bonds on the C64 and probably is my sentimental favourite for more than just nostalgic reasons. [img]smile.gif[/img]
It also has a neat plot and opens up exploration wise once the first bond is overcome in Tilverton. There's more of a middle range level development wise (5-12 I think...) and doesn't tend to goad one into going bezerk on the powergaming as much as I did with Silver Blades and Pools of Darkness and even Dark Queen of Krynn, which are still brilliant games in their own right.

I must pick up where I left off in Pools of Darkness one day just to see if I can complete Dave's Challenge!

If I were new to these games and got to play them all over again, I'd probably do it chronologically:

Pool of Radiance
Curse of the Azure Bonds
Secret of the Silver Blades
Pools of Darkness

Krynn trilogy:

Champions
Deathknights
Dark Queen

@Lucern and Zeleukos
I loved Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday aswell, played it and finished on both PC and on the C64. Very underrated, I think. Definitely worth getting into and perusing the manual over in depth for the skills side of things. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Did you ever get to play the sequel, the Matrix Cubed? I have it somewhere...I got it from a mate a few years ago now and played about half of it before the trusty Dx2 that I'd been playing it on, subsequently died. Whilst it wasn't as compelling as Countdown to Doomsday, it was another Goldbox game - probably the only one I haven't beaten. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Cheers,
CD

[Lucern]

Buck Rogers rocks your goldbox socks off. Overland becomes over-solar system lol. It also had tactical and ship-to-ship combat. The best was when an entire crew of space pirates would meet your squad (of 6) at the airlock. Rocket launchers were like fireballs, and all my guys were practically wizards if I was ready for them . If you're curious about skills...you won't get far without piloting skills and computer hacking, but most of them do something. I tried to play Matrix Cubed immediately after, but couldn't get it to run for some reason. I should try with a newer DosBox.

[Variol (Farseer) Elmwood]

If you're talkin' 'bout the Ubi-Soft Pool of Radiance, I liked it too. The only thing they need to change is how the characters are rolled up and random drops. But I think we're talkin' the original here.

[PurpleXVI]

Wasn't the non-original Pool of Radiance the one that had a chance of annihilating your entire operating system when you installed it?

[Stratos]

Ahh, yes. Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday. It brongs back some fond memories.

The only thing I haven't managed to do in that game is boarding that big-ass slaveship.